CHAPTER 116: FINAL PREPARATIONS

Since he was a top-ranked Hunter, he could pass through the inner and outer gates freely without question.

All those years spent working undercover had clearly paid off.

His rank was A-class and the Guild had complete trust in him.

Honestly, it seemed like Stuart could probably live out the rest of his life working as a Guild Hunter in Dalmasca.

Through Tenby, one of the people from the royal restoration faction, a hawk and a fast horse had already carried a message to Count Dunrossil in the territory of House Dunrossil.

The knights from the Count’s estate were expected to arrive in Rabanastre either tonight or, at the latest, tomorrow.

Around the same time, the Knight Corps of the Sexond Division of the Rosaria Kingdom was also scheduled to arrive.

As soon as they had made contact with the royal restoration faction, Captain Dominic had sent orders to the commander of the southwestern fortress using a special channel.

The Knight Corps of the Second Division would be riding through the night to arrive on time for tomorrow’s event.

Captain Dominic was strict in his training—there was no chance his knights would arrive late.

All that remained was for them to follow the instructions Louis had written in the letter he gave to Stuart: the Rosarian knights were to meet and join forces with Count Dunrossil’s knights.

The other members of the royal restoration faction, like Tenby and his men, were also running around nonstop, passing messages and checking details.

They regularly came back to coordinate with Louis as well. Even a small mistake in their plan could ruin everything, so he had to stay sharp.

This was the moment when all the work that Lord Chelmsford and the others had put in over the last twenty years would finally pay off.

All the money and manpower they had funneled into the military, into knight orders, and into local security forces—it had all been worth it.

What surprised Louis was how smoothly all of this was going.

The royal restoration faction were moving efficiently and the people were helping them. Because the citizens supported them, the news and rumors had spread quickly, and the public reaction had been overwhelmingly positive.

"Is there anything else I’m forgetting? There’s so much going on, it’s getting hard to keep track of it all!" he muttered to himself.

He thought about going to check in with Captain Dominic to confirm everything, but then stopped.

It might be about time for Shiao Yi to return from his undercover mission.

He didn’t want to interfere. Lately, Captain Dominic had been in a bad mood—probably because Shiao Yi had been working alone on his infiltration assignment.

As someone who had worked alongside the captain for a long time as his assistant and second-in-command, Louis had decided to leave the job of keeping the captain in a good mood entirely to Shiao Yi.

Honestly, he wanted Shiao Yi to be the one sacrificed to their overly protective captain.

That way, everything would run smoothly and without trouble.

So, instead of heading to the estate, Louis ran off toward the church. That guy, Aaron, had gone into the church and hadn’t shown his face since. Sure, they’d kept in touch through the magic device, but Louis had no idea how seriously Aaron was actually taking any of it.

It wasn’t long ago that Louis had learned something new about Aaron. Besides being a skilled alchemist and someone who enjoyed chasing men, Aaron was also the kind of mad researcher who, once distracted by something, became completely absorbed and forgot everything else.

Somewhere during their journey, he had clearly become obsessed with something.

He’d been drifting around in a daze ever since.

Louis was sure the man had even forgotten that he was supposed to be undercover as a merchant.

When Louis told the church priest he was looking for Aaron, the priest readily agreed to guide him inside. That seemed a little too relaxed for Louis.

"Are you sure this is okay?" Louis asked. "I mean, it seems a bit unsafe..."

The priest smiled kindly.

"This is a place where people come to seek and receive blessings. The doors here are always open to everyone."

Louis had felt the same kind of vibe in the church back in Rosaria too. People involved with the church just seemed to live on a different wavelength.

Inside one of the church’s rooms, Aaron was hard at work scribbling away. Scattered across the large table were copied texts, fragments of carved stone, and other items that looked like ancient records or research materials.

Louis sighed. As he suspected, Aaron had completely forgotten about his actual role.

Although, at this point, he didn’t really need to keep up the merchant disguise anymore.

"Aaron, I came to check on you," Louis said.

As soon as Louis spoke, Aaron’s face lit up and his green eyes sparkled. Uh-oh, Louis thought. This isn’t good.

"Oh, Louis! You came at the perfect time! Take a look at this. I noticed something amazing when I put this copy next to this other one. These symbols that are scattered across various ruins—so far, I’ve only seen them used in churches—but I realized they’re actually connected as part of a longer pattern..."

"Hold up! Wait! Aaron!" Louis quickly cut in, waving his hands. "I didn’t come here to hear your academic theories, okay?!"

He had to stop the flood of words coming from Aaron before it swept him away. Left unchecked, that explanation would probably go on until nightfall—and that scared Louis.

Aaron looked annoyed, but Louis ignored it.

"You got my message right? Tomorrow is the day. We’ve also received word that Talcott and the others plan to move the military tomorrow as well. The army, the party leaders, the ministers, and the top brass are all supposed to gather together. That’s why Captain Dominic and Lord Chelmsford decided tomorrow is the best time to act. Is everything squared away with the High Priest?"